Back To The Wild West – Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland

We followed the sound of banjo music and found ourselves back in the days of the Wild West in Frontierland – the Magic Kingdom’s take on a prairie outpost. I loved this area, such great theming and attention to detail, you expect to encounter cowboys and Indians round every corner.

The clapboard buildings look great and apparently are structurally consistent with buildings from the 1800’s. The staff are all clad in gingham and denim and there are mesquite trees and cacti everywhere. Plenty of banjo music in the background and a river flowing beside the “town”, I would have been more than content to chill out here, take a seat and people watch. Son had other ideas.

We headed first for the Country Bear Jamboree – a bit cheesy but fun it was in a large theatre and had animatronic bears playing country music.

Splash Mountain was next, we boarded a log flume and entered the world of Br’er Rabbit and his pals. Lots of cute animatronic scenes from the story and music from Song of the South all interspersed with a series of drops and plunges of varying heights. Some were quite intense, especially the drop in pitch black – that made me catch my breath. At the very end we plunged down 5 storeys, a camera caught our screaming faces and we splashed back down to earth. We rode this twice – first at the back on the left hand side and were barely splashed, next at the front and were completely soaked. Still, we soon dried out and it is actually a bit of relief in the hot Florida sunshine.

Big Thunder Mountain – Son’s all time favourite ride – was tried out numerous times on our visit. It is quite fast and a twisting and turning journey through a gold mine. Some sharp turns and drops but the thrills are mild – that always suits me. We dipped and turned through caves and mountains designed to resemble Monument Valley. Lots of mining equipment and “falling rocks” mean great theming here too. First time we missed the attention to detail, several rides later I think we safely saw everything. We also rode this a couple of times at night, in the dark the thrills are more intense and it is even more fun.

A meeting with some of the Toy Story characters, Son was a little weirded out by the hugging and shows of affection, Husband had no such issues with Jessy!

Last but not least was Tom Sawyer Island. This is a bit of a hidden gem, overlooked by us on previous visits which seemed to be common amongst the visitors on our day there. Not busy at all, in fact almost empty, we took a short raft ride over to the island, explored a series of walking trails and found plenty of shady spots to sit in big rocking chairs and relax. Games of checkers were scattered around and places to explore meant Son was happy too.

We chilled out in the shade of some big pine trees, sat on the rocking chairs and watched the hustle and bustle of the Magic Kingdom across the water. Son found some “caves” and a water wheel then we all crossed the rickety barrel bridge.

A pulled pork sandwich later and we were on our way having had a great time in this pretend prairie outpost.

I loved it too and that’s the first time we ever saw it!! That was definitely the best part about not trying to fit in too much and too many parks, we got to experience gems like this that we otherwise would probably have skipped. Very sad but true about Tom Sawyer too!!

Wow Magic Kingdom looks an amazing place Joy! Having said that I’d much rather spend some time on Tom Sawyer Island than any of the rides – can’t cope with lurching around or sudden drops in height!! When we went to Eurodisney I did all the gentle rides then got persuaded onto some rocket launcher bound for space – I think the health warnings at the entrance should have been a clue as to what to expect! Suffice to say I had to be dropped off at one of the cafes after that whilst the others carried on without me and I felt unwell for the rest of the day! Am sure you had no such problems – looks like you all had a fabulous time there! Hope you have a great weekend too 🙂

Oh Rosemary – you sound just like me!! I used to just jump on any ride and never give it a second thought – no more though I have turned into a total wimp and don’t go on anything involving speed or big drops!! My husband loves rollercoasters and thrill rides – the worse they are the better, but anything that spins or turns (even suitable for babies) and he is green around the gills…. No problem here though, all the thrills were moderately mild so all was well!! Hope you’ve had a good week and enjoy your weekend too.

Great look at one of my favorite lands in Disneyland/World. I like Big Thunder Mountain much better than Splash Mt. but I’m a wimp and don’t like those long drops. I love the ride up til that point though so opt to get out before the drop.

I just read Disneyland is taking out some of Frontier Land’s stuff to replace it with new attractions like new Star Wars stuff. When complete I’ll have to make a visit to see what’s new.

Completely get where you’re coming from – I am just the same and the older I get the more of a wimp I am becoming. No thrills and drops for me anymore, Splash Mountain caught me a bit by surprise but I survived!! Interesting about all the new stuff, will watch with anticipation and hopefully we’ll get to check it out too.

Oh, I do love Space Mountain! The first time I rode it was in DisneyWorld in the mid 83 I think perhaps 84 I have to go back to look at images. I also love the Matterhorn. The lines are usually awful but worth the wait. Part of me just can’t wait for #1 Grandson to get tall, and big enough to ride those rides with me. 🙂

You’ll have a ball when your little grandson is big enough to ride!! Thank you so much for the link as well, just had a look and it sounds really great. Showed my son and he is hugely excited – let’s hope Disney World go with this too.

We are actually lucky enough to visit Florida most years – the year before this trip we spent our time at Universal and Islands of Adventure and just loved it all. We need to go back though to check out the new Harry Potter train and other bits!!

I love Magic Kingdom and all the parks at Disney Workd and as many times as I’ve been there I always find something I’ve never done before or love to see again. The crowds are crazy and the summers are tough but if you plan it right, it’s very enjoyable. Glad you had a great time, Joy.

We visited in late October George and the crowds were not so bad at all, not much queuing and plenty of space which is just how I like it. Also not the intense heat of summer but plenty hot enough for us pasty English folk who don’t see the sun that often anyway!!

This post actually made my heart hurt because I miss Disneyland so much… which is kind of a little sad actually I know… but still the memories and nostalgia associated with it are so good… I love being able to read about it here. Thanks for sharing your trip with us. 🙂